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President Trump To Campaign In Georgia For Senate Candidates In Runoff Elections; President Trump Pushes Georgia Governor Brian Kemp To Persuade Georgia Legislators To Overturn Presidential Election Results; New Wave Of Coronavirus Cases Leading To Increased Deaths In U.S.; Coronavirus Pandemic Causing Widening Education Gap Affecting Low-Income Students And Students Of Color; Interview With Former Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV); Judge Orders Trump Administration to Rollback Its Restrictions on DACA. Aired 2-3p ET

Aired December 05, 2020 - 14:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[14:00:00]

FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN HOST: That package is expected to be a lifeline to millions of Americans unemployed and facing financial hardships.

But the headlines say it all in Georgia. Cases hitting an all-time high for the state, more than 5,000 reported in a single day. And despite that, President Trump will be in Georgia tonight holding a rally. He's campaigning for two Republican senators locked in a heated runoff election that could determine which party controls the U.S. Senate.

Just hours before President Trump heads to Georgia to hold a campaign rally for two Republican senators in runoff races, he is once again attacking Georgia's governor and secretary of state, both Republicans, blaming the Republican lawmakers for not overturning the election that he lost. Jeremy Diamond joins us now from the White House. Jeremy, this will be the president's first rally since losing the election. Is this new attack an indication of what can be expected this evening?

JEREMY DIAMOND, CNN WHITE HOUSE REPORTER: It's certainly been how the president has talked about Georgia over the last couple of weeks. He's described the Georgia secretary of state as an enemy of the people, and he said that he regrets having endorsed Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp during the last election when Kemp was running.

And we know that privately, the president has been even more caustic in his comments about Governor Kemp. According to two sources familiar with a conversation, the president during a recent phone call referred to Kemp as both a nutjob and a moron, and he even questioned why Kelly Loeffler, the Republican senator the president will be campaigning for tonight, one of those Republican senators, the president questioning why she couldn't win her race outright even though there was never an expectation that she would given the crowded field, including a Republican congressman who was running against her.

And we're seeing even today, the president continuing to attack Georgia's Republican Governor Brian Kemp, taking to Twitter and once again suggesting that Kemp and the Georgia secretary of state aren't Republicans, putting that in quotation marks, as you can see now on your screen.

And so the question is, does the president continue these attacks this evening? That is the concern, and that is what sources have been telling me has Republicans on edge as the president arrives in Georgia this evening. If he spends the hour-and-a-half of his rally attacking the Republican governor, the Republican secretary of state, that will not be helpful to the cause.

That being said, there is some hope and certainly an expectation by Kelly Loeffler and by David Perdue, who asked the president, I'm told, to actually come and campaign in their state, that hopefully the president can encourage the base to come and turn out in this special election on January 5th. But certainly, you won't be hearing the same message from the president that you heard from the vice president in Georgia last night. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MIKE PENCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I'm here on the president's behalf because we need Georgia to send two great senators back to Republican majority in Washington.

We need to send them back, because the Republican Senate majority could be the last line of defense, preserving all that we've done to defend this nation, revive our economy, and preserve the God-given liberties we hold dear.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

DIAMOND: And so obviously, there is a "could" there, Mike Pence making this a hypothetical about a Republican Senate being in the last line of defense against a Biden presidency, but nonetheless, that is likely further than President Trump would be willing to go.

And that is the conundrum, because that could be Republicans' best argument, frankly, in the state of Georgia, to say, look, we are heading for a Democratic presidency. You loyal Republican voters, you don't want to see a Democratic presidency, Democratic House, and even a Democratic Senate.

But that is not an argument that President Trump is going to be able to make as he continues to try and overturn the results of this presidential election. And in particular, it puts a spotlight on what's happened in the state of Georgia, insisting, despite all evidence to the contrary, that the election in that state was rigged. Fredricka?

WHITFIELD: Jeremy Diamond, thank you so much, at the White House.

So despite Georgia certifying an election win for Joe Biden after three counts, many Trump supporters in that state continue to believe that President Trump is the true winner of the election, and that belief could affect the consequential U.S. Senate runoff races in January. Here now is CNN's Kyung Lah. (BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Sixty miles west of Atlanta sits Haralson County, Georgia.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Thank you, honey, you have a good day.

LAH: Here, lunch is served with a side of disbelief.

Do you believe in the results, in what happened here in Georgia?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No. I really don't.

LAH: Who do you think won in November?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I honestly think Trump did.

LAH: Who do you think won the election in your viewpoint? Trump?

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I think Trump did.

LAH: For some shell-shocked supporters of the president, it's impossible to think about the upcoming January Senate runoffs with a continued deluge of misinformation from President Trump and others.

[14:05:04]

You voted in November. How are you feeling about the runoffs?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I really don't know. I don't know if it's going to change anything or not. It may, it may not.

LAH: Why do you say that?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: With all the voter fraud and the stuff they're talking about, so I don't know 100 percent what's going on, or how they count the votes, or whatever. So it's confusing. Trust in anything anymore.

LAH: That is the Republican nightmare in the upcoming Senate runoffs, because here, the Republican who could hold the most sway is Trump. In Haralson County, the president increased his support by about 3,000 votes from four years ago, a trend in deep red counties.

Donald Trump not only won these counties in November, he did so by roughly 276,000 more votes than in 2016. Republicans need that enthusiastic GOP base in places like Haralson to vote or incumbent senators Kelly Loeffler and David Perdue in the January 5th runoffs. But there's a complication. The president keeps saying this.

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: They know it was a fixed election. It was a rigged election. They know it, and I appreciate their support.

LAH: That baseless claim puts the incumbent senators on the ballot in a political pickle. Listen to David Perdue try to square that circle. SEN. DAVID PERDUE (R-GA): President Trump is very frustrated and I'm

very frustrated, and we're going to do everything we possibly can to make sure that whatever anomalies are uncovered in November don't happen in January. But this is illogical for any Republican to think that, oh, I'm just going to sit down and not vote and hand, as you say, the keys over to the Democrats.

LAH: Republican Buzz Brockway is a former Georgia state representative. He says Republicans are already telling him they will not vote in January.

BUZZ BROCKWAY, FORMER GEORGIA GOP STATE REPRESENTATIVE: I've had dozens of people tell me that, the people that I knew.

LAH: There's just not going to show up?

BROCKWAY: I do my best to talk them out of it, but the Internet spreads things like wildfire.

LAH: What happens if the president keeps tweeting and talking about a rigged election?

BROCKWAY: That hurts, that absolutely hurts, because he has a very passionate group of followers, who, frankly, are more committed to him than they are to the Republican Party. If he were to continue with that message, that would be very hurtful to the Republican Party and to Loeffler and Perdue.

LAH: Not everyone in Haralson County believes Trump's mixed message hurts. Andy Gunther, active in the local Republican Party, says the more outraged Trump is at the rally, the higher the enthusiasm for the senators.

ANDY GUNTHER, BELIEVES TRUMP'S MESSAGE WILL HELP VOTER TURNOUT: It's going to boost the electorate to come out stronger, I believe.

LAH: And why stronger?

GUNTHER: It's defiance. It's we're not going to take this stuff sitting down. We're going to come back out. We're going to vote. We're going to show that we care.

LAH: Kyung Lah, CNN, Haralson County, Georgia.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: All right, we're going to talk about COVID-19 right now. Here with me is Dr. Carlos del Rio. He is the executive associate dean of Emory University School of Medicine at Grady Health System in Atlanta. So Dr. del Rio, good to see you. I'm not going to ask you about politics, but ahead of asking you about COVID, I do want to ask you about the president's planned rally in Valdosta, Georgia.

We do understand that the president and his team says there will be temperatures taken, there will be mask encouragement, hand sanitizer. But what do you anticipate or even brace for just given the history of the president's rallies? What might be your concern right now as even in Georgia, the number of cases is spiking?

DR. CARLOS DEL RIO, EXECUTIVE ASSOCIATE DEAN, EMORY UNIVERSITY SCHOOL OF MEDICINE: Yes, that's absolutely right, Fred. We had yesterday the highest number of cases ever reported in the state of Georgia. Our hospitals are getting full. Our ICUs are getting full. I'm very concerned, and if the president is going to have a rally, I would encourage everybody that is going to the rally, if they're sick, not to attend, and everybody should be wearing a mask, and hopefully also trying to socially distance.

I am very concerned, if their rally is outside, it's better than inside. I don't know where the rally is going to take place. But again, we've known many of his political rallies have led to an increase in cases, and the last thing we need right now is more cases. And unfortunately, that's the direction we're headed.

WHITFIELD: Georgia is one of at least 23 states seeing cases surge. What are your concerns about hospitals in Georgia reaching a breaking point?

DEL RIO: Well, I think we're concerned not only in Georgia but we're concerned across the nation. When we had the surge back in March or April, primarily in New York and maybe in Washington state, it was very easy to say, let's have nurses and doctors from California, from other places, go to New York to help out. Right now, we're having a problem throughout the country.

We have over 100,000 people hospitalized in the U.S. with COVID-19. That's about 18 percent to 20 percent of everybody in a hospital bed right now. So everywhere we're seeing an upswing, everywhere we're seeing a surge. And the biggest problem when you have a surge, it's not the space, it's not the stuff, but it's actually the staff. Staff are tired, staff are also sick, and I'm worried that we're running out of staff to take care of patients.

[14:10:09]

WHITFIELD: How worried are you -- when you say you're worried about staff, are you talking about the burnout factor, or are you talking about their own health being compromised?

DEL RIO: I'm talking about all of those things, including you have more patients for the x number of staff, the quality of care of goes down. If I have a nurse in the ICU instead of taking care of two patients, taking care of four, five, or six patients, the ability of that nurse to provide the kind of quality care that is necessary to prevent that patient from having complications and from ultimately dying decreases dramatically. So the reality is, as more patients come in, less and less ability you have to provide the high quality of care that we all want to provide to our patients.

WHITFIELD: The CDC now says masks are critical in stopping the spread of the coronavirus, and even goes as far as recommending that some wear masks while at home. And a new Pew study says 72 percent of Americans feel bothered when people around them are not wearing a mask. If 72 percent wear masks, is that enough to stop the spread of COVID-19?

DEL RIO: It's good, but it's not good enough. We need to get close to 90 to 95 percent. And in fact, the Institute for Healthcare Metric and Evaluation in Seattle two days ago released a study with a dire prediction that close to 600,000 Americans are going to die from COVID by April 1st.

But they said if we all, 95 percent of the population starts wearing a mask, we can decrease that number of deaths by 66,000, and that is what President-elect Biden said that he's going to mandate the use of masks for 100 days and save 56,000 lives.

WHITFIELD: Yes, he would make the recommendation because he can't make the federal mandate. He thinks the recommendation is encouraging.

DEL RIO: I think the recommendation is right. It has to be done, and I would encourage everybody to forget about politics, to forget about divisiveness, and everybody has to do something right now. We are in a crisis, and we need to come together as Americans, forget our differences, and try to save lives. There's nothing more precious right now than human lives, and we should do everything we can to try to save them.

WHITFIELD: Where are you on this? The FDA just authorized the first emergency use for a combination coronavirus and flu test to be used at home.

DEL RIO: I think that's a great idea. The more we have tests available, tests make a big difference. And the reality is, if we can more testing and people be able to test themselves at home, it will be fantastic. We need tests that work similarly to a pregnancy test, right?

You can do it at home, you can decide what to do. But we need to remind people, and I say this all the time, that a test is not a prevention method. In other words, a test is a way to identify somebody that is infected. You don't prevent pregnancy by doing tests.

WHITFIELD: Great points, always. Thank you so much, Dr. Carlos Del Rio. Appreciate it.

DEL RIO: Delighted to be with you.

WHITFIELD: All right, still ahead, the education gap in the United States growing rapidly as the coronavirus pandemic shows a harsher impact on low-income students and students of color. The facts next.

Plus, a federal judge rules the Trump administration must reverse course on DACA and post a public notice that it will accept new applications for the Obama-era program soon. Details on that.

And the climate crisis among Joe Biden's priorities when he takes office. Senator Harry Reid said Biden's climate plan could be good for the economy. I'll talk to him live coming up.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) [14:17:41]

WHITFIELD: We can see the impact of COVID-19 in all of our daily lives, but now there is a new study about the potential this pandemic could have on a generation of young people, specifically, students of color and those in low-income families. And the findings are shocking. CNN's Evan McMorris-Santoro is checking on all of this. Evan?

EVAN MCMORRIS-SANTORO, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Fred, at the beginning of this semester, we had a lot of anecdotal evidence, a lot of worry that this would be a hard one for those on the bottom of the economic scale, and now we're starting to get data that shows that's actually true. I checked in with some people and found out what it looks like in public education right now.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: We're now getting data from the first full semester of pandemic school, and the deep divide among students that appeared in spring remote learning may not have been solved. Numbers on the ground are showing dramatic drops in attendance, academic participation, and grade performance among students of color attending public schools. What was bad before the pandemic for students with fewer advantages is getting worse.

JOHN KING, FORMER EDUCATION SECRETARY: The sad reality is, as a country, we give least to the students who need the most. So before the pandemic, it was already true that low income students and students of color less likely to be in quality early childhood education, they were less likely to be in schools with strong, well- prepared teachers.

So we had all these gaps before. We had significant achievement gaps before, 20, 30, 40-point gaps in academic achievement and on assessments of reading and math, gaps in college access and college completion. So those were all challenges before. COVID has exacerbated those challenges.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Those challenges are on display in a Zoom room out of northeast Washington, D.C.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Next, we have story time.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Student tutors from a non-profit called Reach Incorporated are trying to close a growing gap in elementary school literacy between wealthier students and those with less privilege.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: And the book we're reading is called "Deena Misses Her Mom."

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Program director Mark Hecker says everything is harder in the pandemic.

MARK HECKER, PROGRAM DIRECTOR, REACH INCORPORATED: Our system is certainly not built for this moment, and what we see over and over is people trying their best to do what they can right now, but really struggling on all sides.

[14:20:00]

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: Neveah Baker is a 15-years-old Reach tutor. She's trying to go to school and teach other kids while struggling to get wi-fi at home. The bad connection and the frustration is obvious.

NEVEAH BAKER, TUTOR FOR REACH INCORPORATED: Most kids are not doing as well virtually because they don't understand. They'll get overwhelmed and then they'll like, break down and cry, shut down. They won't want to do it. I can tell that from experience because that happened to me and my sisters.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: The D.C. literacy crisis is real. Stark numbers from the city's public school system shows students of color being left behind in pandemic school. The D.C. numbers are not uncommon. National data is starting to show a tale of two very separate education experiences in the pandemic.

A study of more than 4 million tests completed by students in grades three to eight by the educational assessment non-profit NWEA found an overall drop in learning that was less than they expected. In the words of the researchers, there was some good news in the overall numbers. Not so fast, say experts like John King, a former Obama administration education secretary.

KING: I am very worried about some of the recent studies where the descriptions of the findings, to my mind, understate the level of impact that COVID has had on kids' education.

MCMORRIS-SANTORO: The authors of the NWE study actually agree with this. They note that fewer students participated in assessments this time, and the students least likely to be counted were students of color and those from economically struggling school districts.

Researchers said they don't know where the missing students are. Their school may not have had the technology required to administer the test. Students could have skipped it, or they could have dropped out of the system altogether. So what's not in the data could be as indicative as what is.

People like King saw this coming. And now they say, the results could be dire.

KING: There is a real risk here of a potential lost generation of students. If you aren't a strong reader by third grade, your prospects of graduating from high school go down, your prospects of going on to post-secondary education go down, and your long-term career and earning potential goes down.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

MCMORRIS-SANTORO (on camera): Fred, this looks like a real crisis, and we have to figure out what we're going to do about it. John King, who I mentioned in that piece, he said, look, if Congress and state governments invest the money and time in trying to catch these kids up, it's possible to do it. But that's a big if with the economy that's coming after this pandemic is finally over. Fred?

WHITFIELD: That's sobering and frightening and just heartbreaking, all of it. Evan McMorris-Santoro, thank you so much.

Still ahead, Joe Biden with an ambitious agenda to tackle, climate change, but can he do it without Republican support? I'll ask former longtime Senator Harry Reid next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:27:23]

WHITFIELD: Dramatic video from southern California where a wildfire has engulfed more than 7,000 acres and injured two firefighters. The Bond fire is now up to 40 percent contained, but fierce winds and dry conditions this weekend could prove to be challenging for firefighters. Thousands of residents have already been forced to evacuate. This year, California has seen five of the six largest wildfires in that state's history.

President-elect Joe Biden has listed tackling the global climate crisis among the top priorities for his administration. Biden vowing to rejoin the Paris Climate Accord on his first day in office, while laying out an ambitious climate agenda aimed at reaching net zero greenhouse gas emissions by the year 2050.

Joining me right now to discuss is Harry Reid, the former Senate Majority Leader from Nevada. He also sits on the national advisory board for Climate Action Group, Climate Power 2020. Good to see you, Senator Reid. I love the topper. I love the hat.

HARRY REID (D-NV), FORMER SENATE MAJORITY LEADER: Thank you. Thank you.

WHITFIELD: Hey, so I've got to ask you right off the bat. This is an unusual transition, to say the very least. Typically, it may be a quiet period for an outgoing administration, but right now with just 46 days before President-elect Biden is sworn in, President Trump is reportedly allowing forest service to do more logging and road building inside national forests without environmental review, and a rush to lock down oil drilling in Alaska's Arctic National Wildfire Refuge.

So your worries or thoughts on all of this? And does it potentially delay what you're hoping to be real priorities for climate-related issues as it pertains to the Biden-Harris administration?

REID: You explained the fires going on in California to show how shallow his thinking is. President Trump said what we should do in California is sweep the forest floors, sweep them. Can you imagine that? And to think he's now going to allow drilling in the national refuge simply can't happen, won't happen. There's enough time that legal action will stop it from happening.

But I think that what Joe Biden's going to do is join immediately the Paris peace climate accord, which we were in originally, and also, one of the important things he's going to do is rejoin the World Health Organization. One of the main problems the World Health Organization has is climate and all the problems that are attributed to that.

[14:30:08]

So I think that what Joe Biden has done to set the framework on January 20th, there will be some good things happening. What he's done with John Kerry, who has been for decades a leader in the environmental cause, to have him now with a cabinet level position is going to be extremely important.

Tony Blinken, secretary of state, who has been involved in climate for many, many years is a great choice there. Neera Tanden, Office of Management and Budget, she's been involved for a long time with the organization she has worked on and led for more than a decade. It's really significant.

Linda Greenfield will be ambassador to the United Nations, and the situation dealing with climate is not going to be related to only the Department of Interior. It's going to cover all the different cabinet officers because they're all going to be on board to do something about the most significant threat facing mankind, that is climate change.

WHITFIELD: Are you worried it's going to be hard to hit the ground running with the climate envoy carries plans given that there has been a delay in the transition period, given that the Trump administration is doing some things that the next administration, the Biden administration, would want undone first?

REID: What Trump has done is issued hundreds, hundreds of executive orders, all in opposition to having a good, clean environment. So President Biden is going to be able to reverse some of those with simple executive orders. So it's not as if he won't be able to do anything for a significant period of time. So he'll be able to do that with a number of executive orders, very important.

And we talked about the team he's put together. It covers not, I indicated, one cabinet office but all. I think that I appreciate very much because I think we look at what's going on in our country, the fires in California, the devastating floods in the Midwest, the rise of seas in Florida, as an example, people who bought multi-million dollar condos, certain times of the month, have to take a boat to their condos. It is a very, very bad situation we face.

WHITFIELD: I know you're there in Nevada, but everyone in the United States is watching these two Georgia U.S. Senate runoff races, and it will ultimately determine whether Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell continues to be the leader in the U.S. Senate. You worked with McConnell for a very long time in the Senate.

You recall, of course, as well when McConnell said early in the Obama administration, in a "National Journal" interview, and I'm quoting now, McConnell, who said the single most important thing we want to achieve is for President Obama to be a one-term president. Do you see that McConnell will take a very similar posture, potentially, with the Biden administration?

REID: Republicans had two things that they said they agreed upon. Number one, Biden would not be reelected. Number two, they said that they would everything that Biden tried to do. I'm so sorry, do this over again. Republicans had two objectives. Number one, Obama would not be reelected. Number two, they would oppose everything that he tried to do. They failed miserably on the first one because he was reelected without a lot of trouble. But they opposed everything he tried to do.

To give you an indication how difficult that made things, during the six years that Lyndon Johnson was majority leader, he had to overcome two filibusters. During my first six years as Democratic leader, we had to overcome more than 100 filibusters. They oppose everything. And it made it real difficult. We had to change the rules in order to have president have a significantly good --

WHITFIELD: Do you see a potential sequel to that? A second attempt at that same approach, the Obama administration experienced just nine months into President Obama's presidency, do you see Biden potentially facing that same demise?

[14:35:00]

REID: I don't see Republicans doing anything to help a cause. They are committed to opposing everything that the new president is going to try to do, and they will do that. Mitch McConnell didn't get the nickname "The Grim Reaper" for nothing, because he's noted for opposing virtually everything. And the sad part about that -- just one second.

WHITFIELD: Yes, go ahead.

REID: The sad part about that, he's turned the Senate into a mere shadow of its former self. The Senate doesn't do anything anymore except approve judges. There are no amendments, there's no legislation, and it is very sad for the country.

WHITFIELD: I don't mean to rush you. Just up against a break and I do want to get this question in to you because this is just information coming in to CNN, that President Trump has called Republican Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, and pushed him to convince state legislators to overturn the election in which President-elect Biden has won after three counts. What is your view on hearing this?

REID: Trump is weird and out of touch with reality. The Republican secretary of state in Georgia has been very strong. And Georgia is a state that is not going to allow this foolishness to continue. They had an election. They've approved it. They certified it. And I think that Trump is wasting his time. Georgia is not going to have its reputation ruined by some stupid damn thing that Trump is trying to do that is outside the realm of reality.

WHITFIELD: You call it foolishness, but is it more than that? Is it potentially criminal for a sitting president to attempt a free and fair election result outcome, trying to overturn it? REID: That's just only one of the many things that Trump has done that

is bordered on criminality. I don't know whether this is criminality, but it's unethical. And people of Georgia are simply not going to allow it to happen.

WHITFIELD: Former Senator Harry Reid, pleasure talking to you. Thank you so much for being with us.

REID: Thank you very much.

WHITFIELD: All right, next, a major blow to Trump's quest to end DACA. The administration must accept new applications from Dreamers. Details on that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[14:41:0]

WHITFIELD: A federal judge is ordering the Trump administration to accept new DACA applications. That's the Obama-era program that protects undocumented immigrants who came to the U.S. as children, protecting them against deportation. Priscilla Alvarez is following these developments for us from Washington. Priscilla, good to see you. So, first, tell us more about this order. And this happens, or it's being asked to encourage to happen right away.

PRISCILLA ALVAREZ, CNN REPORTER: Yes, this is a significant order for DACA recipients, and for undocumented youth who were eligible for the program but unable to apply because of limitations put in place by the Trump administration.

Let me remind a little bit as to how we got to last night's order. Over the summer the Supreme Court blocked the Trump administration's initial attempts to end DACA. This prompted acting Homeland Security Secretary Chad Wolf to issue a memo in which he limited the program by rolling back renewals, which were usually two years, to one year, and also saying the department would not accept new applications.

This prompted litigation across the country, and the federal judge whose order came out last night ruled in November that because Chad Wolf was not lawfully serving as acting Homeland Security Secretary, the DACA rules that he had issued were invalid. So last night's order built upon that and laid out the next steps for DHS to take, and that is restoring the DACA program to pre-2017, meaning back to those two- year renewals, back to accepting new applications, and, notably, to publicly and prominently post it on their website and the relevant agency Web sites.

So again, this is very significant for DACA recipients and those who wanted to apply for DACA but were unable to, because they have been in limbo for years under this administration. And plaintiffs welcomed the ruling last night, saying they can now look forward.

WHITFIELD: Wow, that is significant because this judge's order also says that the Department of Homeland Security has to post that public notice that you spoke of Monday, this coming Monday, to accept first- time applications so that these work permits could be obtained. This is a real setback for the Trump administration, right, for this Trump White House, which has been trying for a very long time to end the program. So is there any expectation that they could refrain from honoring this judge's request, or will it comply?

ALVAREZ: We reached out to the Department of Homeland Security last night, asking them those questions, and they have not replied to comment, though we anticipate that they will likely appeal the ruling, as they have done with previous rulings.

Again, unclear, there's a short amount of time between now and inauguration day when Biden, who is coming in, has said that he would expand or restore the program as well. So unclear what will happen next. What we'll be watching for court filings to see if they do appeal and, again, on Monday, whether they do post that they are restoring the program on their website.

WHITFIELD: Priscilla Alvarez, thanks so much for bringing that to us. Appreciate it.

And this breaking news out of the White House. President Trump called Georgia Governor Brian Kemp, pushing him to convince state legislators to overturn the election, which President-elect Biden won.

[14:45:08]

Details on that straight ahead.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

WHITFIELD: On January 20th, Joe Biden will join the small and exclusive club of American vice presidents who have gone on to serve as commander in chief. And when he takes office, he'll bring with him a groundbreaking vice president in Kamala Harris. Tonight, the new CNN film "President in Waiting" interviews every living former president and vice president to get their unique perspectives on the second most powerful job in the world. Here's a preview.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[14:50:04]

JOE BIDEN, (D) PRESIDENT-ELECT OF THE UNITED STATES: So the way the president and I would about it alone, we'd talk about it with a small group, toward the end of the fall when it was opened up to the secretary of state, to the Homeland Security, et cetera, there was a lot more discussion about trying to decide whether bin Laden was there. But literally because of the phases of the moon, we got to a place where the president had 48 hours to make a decision to go or not go.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

WHITFIELD: Joining us now is CNN political analyst Julian Zelizer. He's also a professor of history and public affairs at Princeton University. He's also the author of "Burning Down the House, Newt Gingrich, the Fall of a Speaker and the Rise of the New Republican Party." Good to see you, Julian.

JULIAN ZELIZER, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST: Nice to be with you.

WHITFIELD: How do you think Joe Biden's experience as vice president will inform how he approaches the role of commander in chief?

ZELIZER: I think he's going to work closely with Vice President-elect Harris. He was in this office for two terms. He understands the value that a vice president offers to the White House, not just in helping a president have contact with Capitol Hill and build relations, but in pushing back on controversial ideas. That's part of what Biden did, and I think he'll expect that of Vice President Harris as well.

WHITFIELD: When Kamala Harris becomes vice president, she will be the first woman, the first black American, and the first southeast Asian to serve in that role. She is a groundbreaker. Do you see her being the kind of vice president Joe Biden was to Barack Obama, or making it her own in a different way?

ZELIZER: I think she'll make it her own in a different way. She will bring to the table policy expertise. She will bring a sense of how the Senate works. But her presence also represents what the Democratic Party is becoming and how it reflects the diversity and pluralism of the country. So that symbolic role is not really something that Biden, when he was vice president, brought to the table. That's what President Obama did. And I think that will be an added element of her term in office.

WHITFIELD: All right, Julian Zelizer, thank you so much, and thanks for spending your birthday weekend with us as well.

ZELIZER: It's a pleasure.

WHITFIELD: Happy birthday.

ZELIZER: Thank you.

WHITFIELD: All right, be sure to tune in, "President in Waiting" premieres tonight at 9:00 p.m. only on CNN.

WHITFIELD: Tis the season for some holiday spirit after a year of hardships and tough times. On this, we go to CNN's Tom Foreman.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

TOM FOREMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT: The holiday rush is on at the Owens house in Virginia. More decorations, more weeks ahead of the celebration, and more coming.

KAMI OWENS: I went out of my way and spent money that I wouldn't normally because we're not traveling.

FOREMAN: Coast to coast, countless others appear to be doing the same, charging into Christmas, Hanukkah, pick your holiday, like never before. From this holiday shop in California -- LORI ANN GRAVES: With everything people have been through this year from not only COVID but murder hornets, goodness, we are ready for some joy.

FOREMAN: -- to this tree farm in Oregon where sales are five times higher than usual. While some businesses remain shut down by the virus, others are reporting early and sustained surges.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You can't have a Christmas without a Christmas tree, so we're getting it started today.

FOREMAN: In Illinois --

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I have never seen anything like this.

FOREMAN: -- this family started building their light display three months ago, thrilling local crowds.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Because of COVID-19, we're all stuck in the house. Santa might just be wearing a mask in your house.

FOREMAN: And at this garden center in Maryland, the calendar has been racing forward with a jingle.

So normally, you don't switch over to Christmas until November, but this year it was October.

COLIN KUHN, GENERAL MANAGER, AMERICAN PLANT: It was very early, gosh. We noticed that right away, people were purchasing Christmas merchandise because we can't spend as much time doing the things we used to, whether it be retail or restaurants or travel, they want to make the home feel like a special place to be.

FOREMAN: All that enthusiasm may really pay off, with holiday spending predicted to rise as much as five percent higher than last year, a big boost to businesses hit by the pandemic slump.

And some psychologists say it can be pretty good for the rest of us, too. The lights, the decorations, the whole holiday vibe can lift spirits like nothing else.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I am assembling our fake three-piece Christmas tree.

FOREMAN: So if you haven't hauled out the holly, you might get busy, because the socially distant party has already started.

KAMI OWENS: There's one thing that COVID cannot take from us, and it's definitely the Christmas spirit.

FOREMAN: Tom Foreman, CNN, Falls Church, Virginia.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

WHITFIELD: We were bitten by that same bug. We got ours Christmas decorations up well before Thanksgiving. That's a first for us. Thanks so much for joining me today. I'm Fredricka Whitfield. NEWSROOM continues with Ana Cabrera right after this.

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